Carlos Sainz put up a brilliant qualifying performance to seal a P2 start in his home GP in Barcelona. The performance was so stunning that it reportedly “recovered” his injured father “perfectly.”
This has come at a time when Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc’s Q1 exit has been the worst qualifying session for him in the last four years. Thus, Sainz’s performance in Catalunya left the team in a bitter-sweet position.
The Spanish driver secured a front-row start for Sunday’s race alongside pole-sitter Max Verstappen, making it his best result in the season so far and his first P2 in 2023.
The 28-year-old managed to pull off a brilliant 1:12.712 on the timesheet, which was 0.462 seconds slower than the Dutchman. In doing so, Sainz fended off his former teammate at McLaren Lando Norris by 0.058 seconds.
Sainz Sr. revealed he’s now a recovered man
As the valiant performance by the Ferrari driver was over, DAZN F1 got the hold of his father, a motorsport maestro, for an interview. Speaking with them, Carlos Sainz Sr revealed his son’s result made him feel better.
Analyzing his son’s performance, the proud father set an important target for the home-town hero, “Above all, he has a good feeling with the car, which seems to have been the case this Saturday. the most important thing is that it seems that it already has a little more confidence with the car. The goal, of course, must be the podium.”
https://twitter.com/sainzc55/status/1593257422834974720?s=20
Thus, the adrenaline of watching his son potentially lift the trophy at his home race, has the injured driver feeling revived. Giving his people an update, the rally driver said, “I have recovered well and after the accident, the first tests have gone well.”
Sainz Sr. had suffered multiple spine fractures while taking part in Dakar Rally earlier this year. The veteran racing driver crashed his Audi just six kilometers into stage 9 when he failed to keep control of his car and it rolled and landed on its nose.
Sainz Jr. on his P2 performance
Carlos Sainz was jubilant with his P2 result in Barcelona. Following his front-row start confirmation, the Ferrari star stated during the post-qualification interview that the achievement is very special and he “needed it.”
“It was super tight, very very tricky condition out there today. Putting a good lap only with one setting was probably one of the most tricky qualis I’ve had here in Barcelona in terms of conditions,” concluded the Spaniard.
🇪🇸 Happy with P2! The conditions were not easy, but we extracted everything from the car. The weekend is not done, though, and we need to execute the best race possible tomorrow. The support of the fans makes the difference, thanks!
–#CarlosSainz pic.twitter.com/RsYiYYOviu
— Carlos Sainz (@Carlossainz55) June 3, 2023
As things stand, the race on Sunday in front of his home crowd will be a great opportunity for Carlos Sainz to extend his lead from his teammate Leclerc.
Sainz, who has 48 points, currently leads the Monegasque by 6 points, and it’ll be interesting to see how far the lead goes when the race ends on Sunday.
